This weekend Patti LuPone made her long-awaited return to the Ravinia Festival stage in an all-Weill program, which included many of the versatile composer's Broadway hits. A lot has happened since LuPone's last appearance at Ravinia Festival in 2006--her first involvement as Mama Rose in Gypsy. In 2008, Patti LuPone received a Tony Award for the role originally played by Ethel Merman.

We are particularly fond of minute 2:47!

But this week's From the Archives focuses on Patti LuPone's 2001 Ravinia Festival debut as Mrs. Lovett in Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd. LuPone's performance as a meat-pie shop proprietress instantly cemented her as a Ravinia favorite; since, she has performed a staggering 20 times on the festival stage. If Ravinia Festival had a walk of fame, there would be little doubt that Patti LuPone would have a star. In honor of Patti's return to our stage, we dug up some slides from the archives and transferred them to our Backstage Gallery.

To see more pictures from Ravinia Festival's debut staging of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, head over to the Backstage Gallery. If you have your own piece of Ravinia Festival history or memorabilia, please share it with us at backstage@ravinia.org.

Matthew Dolkart
Development Writer

P.S. - No, you're not seeing things; that is Stephen Sondheim and that is Neil Patrick Harris as Tobias Ragg.